Kingdom Hearts Online
by YamiChaos27
Summary: Inspired by the anime 'Sword Art Online'. Sora, aka Skyknight, is trapped inside a VRMMO, along with thousands of other players. If they die in the game, they die in real life. Together with his beta tester friend, Riku, aka Landdusk, and an amnesiac girl, Seaprincess, he must help clear a hundred floors to clear the game, and escape this virtual nightmare.
1. It's Not a Game

**A/N: This idea has been gnawing in my brain recently. And I just have to get it out. A Kingdoms Heart version of the anime _Sword Art Online_. Sword Art Online has become one of my favorite anime's of all time, and Kingdom Hearts being my favorite video game franchise of all time, a mash up of the two was inevitable in my head.**

**A few things I want to clear up before I begin. While the basic set up is same as the anime, I'm planning to put my own spin on the story. Before you ask, no, this will not extend to a second online game like the anime and, no, the game will not be cleared on a lower floor than intended. This'll be just one game and I plan to end it on the top floor. Lastly, I don't know how often this story will be updated as I have other stories in the works.**

**Without further ado, IT'S GAME TIME!**

* * *

**It's Not a Game**

* * *

"YAAHOOO!" Bursting through the front door was a fifteen-year with a boy with spiky brown hair and blue eyes. In his hands was a white cardboard box with a blue label that read, _Nerve Gear, +Kingdom Hearts Online_. The young boy ran through the house and up the stairs, excited about the new game he just got. But he then tripped over the final step, and fell over. He drop his new gear and it would've fallen on the ground had it not been caught by a different set of hands.

"Whoa!" the second person said. "Careful there, Sora. You don't wanna break something you just bought."

The boy, identified as Sora, looked up and saw a boy a couple years older than him, with blue eyed and blond hair that was even spikier than his. Sora grins as he rubs the back of his head and said, "Sorry about that, Ventus."

"It's okay, Bro. You're just excited."

"You know it! I finally get to play the world's first VRMMO! Kingdom Hearts Online!"

Ventus chuckles. "I guess anyone would be excited about that."

"You and my pal, Riku, are lucky. You got to beta test it, something only a thousand people were able to do. But now that it's officially been launched," Sora punched the upward, "it's my turn to have fun!"

"Don't get too carried away, Bro. The game is not that easy."

"I'm a fast learner, I'll get the hang of it in no time."

"Whatever you say." Ventus then turned around with the box in hand. "Come on, I'll help you set this up."

"Okay, thanks, Ven."

* * *

Ven helped Sora set up the game and Nerve Gear in his room. After Sora put the helmet like, Gear on his head, he had to do a little calibration where he had to touch himself all over. Ventus told him how to get started, and soon left for his own Nerve Gear. Sora lied down on his bed and took a few deep breaths before proceeding as instructed.

He closed his eyes and shouted, "LINK START!" And soon he saw a bunch of different colors flying at him. His body went numb and his vision went all white. Soon, a red Login menu appeared, with two blank text bars appeared, above one read **_Account_**, and the other said **_Password_**. A holographic keyboard appeared in front of him. He enter the name Skyknight, then his password. And then blue text read, **_Welcome to Kingdom Hearts Online!_**

Sora then found himself standing on a circular stain glass platform in a dark place. He saw text in his vision read, **_So much to do, so little time. Take your time, don't be afraid._** Soon three pedestals appeared around the platform, each with a different weapon. One was a sword with a silver blade, a gold guard, and a red jewel. The second was a green rod with a blue oddly shaped orb at the top. And the last one was a black and red shield accompanied by a shorter sword. More text appeared and read, **_Power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well._**

Sora remembers his brother telling him that this would determine his starting weapon, beginning stats, and abilities gained from leveling up. He's supposed to choose one to boost stats, and sacrifice another to decrease stats. The Sword changes the attack and speed stats, the staff changes the magic power and resistance, and the shield changes the defense stat and health points.

Sora walked up to the sword and examined it. The text read, _**Dream Sword: **_**_Power of the Warrior, Invincible Courage, A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek? Yes or No?_** Reading 'terrible destruction' made the boy cringe, and he pressed 'No' for now. He then walked to the rod and examine it. _**Dream Rod: **_**_Power of the Mystic, Inner Strength, A staff of wonder and ruin._** He didn't really see himself using magic very often so he moved on, and went to the shield. **_Dream Shield: Power of the Guardian, Kindness to Aid Friends, A shield to repel all._** After reading that, he actually liked the sound of that. While normally he would've gone for the Dream Sword, he thought the Dream Shield suit him better as a person. _**Is the power you seek? Yes or No?**_ Sora pressed 'Yes' and grabbed the Dream Shield, and the short sword that accompanied it.

The text returned, _**Your path is set. Now which one will you give up in**** exchange?**_ Sora thought for a second. He still wanted a decent attack stat, and again he didn't see himself using magic that much, so he picked the Dream Rod. _**Do you give up this power?**_ Sora pressed 'Yes' and the rod shattered into pieces. _**You've chosen the Power of the Guardian, you've given up the Power of the Mystic. Is this the form you choose? Yes or No?** _Sora thought one last time the pressed 'Yes'.

Suddenly the short sword in his hand glowed a bright gold light. When the light dimmed, to Sora's surprise the short sword was gone and in its place was a large key-like sword. Then text appear in his vision saying, _**Congratulations! You've purchase a Hidden Keyblade **__**Special **_Pack! Your prize: Kingdom** Key Keyblade! **Sora looked confused at first, but then he got excited and started jumping up and down. Until he's engulfed in a blue light.

* * *

Sora then found himself in a town with red roofed buildings. The sky was bright and clear. Sora looked around in awe of the virtual world around him. He looked at all the players in the area and was stunned at how many there were. Too many to count.

On the top left corner of his vision he could see two bars. The green bar represents his health points (HP). When that gauge hits zero, he's dead, and if he's not revived in sixty seconds, he respawns in the last safe zone he's been to. At half way down the bar turns yellow, and at the last quarter it turns red. Certain abilities can be activated when the gauge is at the yellow or red zones. HP slowly regenerates over time, much faster when inside a safe zone. The blue bar represents his magic points (MP). Magic spells and certain skills require MP in order to use. MP recharges faster then HP does. To the right of the two bars was a heart that was mostly blue, with a tiny amount of purple to the left. That's the Heart Gauge that displays the amount of light and darkness within his avatar. The amounts determine the effectiveness of light or dark type attacks, but the higher the darkness the more vulnerable they are to dark mind control. The gauge starts off random for each person, and most of the time it's fixed, but special circumstances can alter the gauge. And at the top right was the digital clock, which read 1:00PM**_  
_**

Soon he was approached by another player. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Sora." Sora turned around a saw a player with shoulder-length blond hair a blue eyes. He wore a black shirt with white sleeves, a small red leather vest, beige pants and black boots. Strapped to his back was a short sword, and to his left arm was a Dream Shield.

"Ventus?" He asked.

The player nodded. "Yes, but in this world, I'm Roxas."

"Oh, right." Sora chuckled at himself. "Nice to meet you Roxas, I'm Skyknight. So this is Kingdom Hearts Online huh?"

"Yep. The Kingdom of Fantasy! And this town, where every player starts, is called Traverse Town."

"This is so cool. By the way you're avatar is looking good."

"Yours isn't too bad either."

Skyknight looked at a nearby window and saw what he was talking about. His reflection revealed that he had shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a red shirt with black sleeves, a small white leather vest, red pants and yellow boots. His own Dream Shield was strapped to his left arm.

"I see you chose Guardian too." Said Roxas. "Imagine that. I would've thought you'd choose Warrior."

Skyknight chuckled. "I kinda thought protector sounded better for me than destroyer."

"I see."

"But never mind that look at this." Skyknight held out his right arm and his Keyblade appear in his hand. Keyblades are the only weapon a player can summon and dismiss at will without accessing the item storage.

Roxas was flabbergasted at the sight. "What the-? How did you get a Keyblade? You not supposed to be able to get one until the tenth floor!"

"The game told me I got a 'Hidden Keyblade Special Pack', or something like that," Skyknight answered.

"Wow! I didn't know there'd be a hidden pack with a Keyblade already downloaded into your avatar."

"I guess I got lucky, huh?"

"Lucky is right." The two brothers laugh it up. "Well I gotta meet up with my buddies."

"Yeah. And I have to meet up with Riku. Catch ya later!"

With that, Skyknight-Sora and Roxas-Ventus, parted ways.

* * *

Sora looked around town for his friend Riku, or Landdusk as he was told his ID in this world would be. He sent Landdusk a message asking him where to meet him and he said the Second District in front of the fountain. He reached his destination and right where he said he'd be stood a player with short silver hair, and sky blue eyes. He wore a yellow sleeveless shirt, a small black leather vest, indigo pants and gray boots. Strapped to his back was a Dream Sword.

"Riku-er...I mean Landdusk!" Skyknight shouted.

"Yo, Skyknight!" replied Landdusk. "How you doing?"

"Awesome! Your not gonna believe what I got right off the bat! Check this out!" Skyknight show Landdusk his Kingdon Key Keyblade.

It was Landdusk's turn to be flabbergasted. "No way! How did you get that?!"

"Luck of the draw, I guess," Skyknight answered. "Turn out I pick just the right Gear and got a Keyblade right after selecting my weapon."

"Damn! I hadn't heard of that!" Landdusk then looked at the Dream Shield on Skyknights arm. "I see you chose Guardian huh?"

"Yeah, I liked the idea of being a protector. I gave up Mystic, cause I didn't see myself using magic that often." SkyKnight then looks at Landdusk's Dream Sword. "I see you chose Warrior."

"I work a lot better on the offense rather than defense, which is why I gave up Guardian." Landdusk then waved his right arm downward and a menu popped up. He sent Skyknight a friend request and a party member invite, to which Skyknight accepted both. "Well, ready to do a little hunting?"

"You bet!"

* * *

There are two known types of enemies in this game. The first is Heartless. According to the game's lore, Heartless are beings born out of the darkness in peoples hearts. They hunt down other people's hearts to increase their numbers. They say if a person yields to the darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. They come in two categories: Purebloods and Emblems. Purebloods are said to occur naturally, and also said to hail from the Realm of Darkness. Emblem, distinguishable by the black and red heart sigil, were originally artificial, but afterward become the result of a heart stolen by a Heartless. When Emblems are slain, it's captive heart is released. There are a much larger variety of Emblems then there are Purebloods.

The second type of enemy is called a Nobody. According to the lore, at rare times when a person with a strong heart and will becomes a heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own, mutating into a white husk with a white upside down thorny heart sigil, they are call Nobodies. Nobodies have no hearts, no feelings. While Nobodies are much less common than Heartless, they are generally stronger and have a much smarter AI. Low level rookie players are not recommended to engage these Nobodies.

Landdusk, as an ex beta tester, showed Skyknight the ropes of the game by hunting some Shadows, the weakest Heartless in the game. He taught him how each skill activated, how magic works, as well as a few tricks that are usable, as a solo player or in a party. The sun was starting to set, as the digital clock said 5:30PM. And of course time in the virtual world was parallel to time in real life so the sun was going down in the real world too. Sora was expressing his amazement of the virtual world, when he suddenly got a message.

"Huh? A message from Roxas?" Skyknight said as he opens the message from his brother and reads it aloud. "_Something weird is going on. Check your menu for the Logout button._" Both Skyknight and Landdusk did just that, and they both found that the logout button was missing. "Hey, what gives? What happened to the Logout button?"

"This is not good." Landdusk said. "Our only way out of this world is missing!"

"Seriously?! There's no other way out?!"

"Afraid not. We can't use the Logout button, there's no emergency Logout command, and our bodies in the real world are immobile, so we can't take the Nerve Gear's off ourselves. The only way out of here is if someone in the real world takes off the Gear for us."

"Well, my parents are out of town till tomorrow. And my brother dived into the game too."

"My parent's are out, too."

"You think this is some kind of bug?" Skyknight asked as he sends Roxas a reply.

"Maybe," Landdusk said while in deep thought, "but if it is, it's a very serious bug. One that could cause a public issue with the game. I'm wondering if the Game Master has even noticed what's happening."

Suddenly both of them heard a bell ring echo from the town, and before they knew it, they were engulfed is a blinding blue light.

* * *

Skyknight and Landdusk found themselves in the First District of Traverse Town. It appears that every player in the game had been forced teleported into this town. Everyone was very confused as to what's going on. Once the bell stopped ringing, black clouds quickly filled the sky. And in a flash of lightning a giant holographic figure shrouded in a brown robe appeared in the sky.

Everyone shuddered in fear as a deep voice spoke. "**Greetings, my subjects. I welcome you to my world. My name is Ansem, the Game** **Master.**"

"Ansem?" said Landdusk. "The creator of the Nerve Gear, and KHO?"

The voice called Ansem continued. "**And as of today, this world is mine to control. As I'm sure many of you have noticed by now that there's an item missing from your menu, the Logout Button. Let me assure, you this is not a defect. I repeat this is not a defect. This is how Kingdom Hearts Online was designed to be. You cannot logout of KHO. And no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the Nerve Gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the nerve gear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life.**"

Many players were in disbelief, some have tried to leave the area only to find a barrier blocking their way.

Skyknight was getting nervous. "He's not serious, is he?"

"The transmitter signals in the Nerve Gear work just like microwaves," Landdusk answered. "If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain."

"You've got you be kidding me! That's so messed up!"

Ansem continued his speech. "**Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the Nerve Gear. A very unfortunate choice. As a result, the game has two hundred less players than when it began. They've been deleted from the Kingdom of Fantasy and the Real World.**"

"Two hundred?!" exclaimed Skyknight. "Unbelievable?!"

Screenshots from the real world start appearing in the sky. "**As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point it's safe to assume the likelihood of a Nerve Gear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important that you remember the following: There is no longer a way to revive someone within the game.**" The screenshots ceased. "**If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever, and the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain.**"

Everyone was dead scared now.

"**There is only one way for you to escape now: You must clear the game.**" A map of the of the world is displayed. "**Everyone here is now gathered on the first floor of the Kingdom of Fantasy. If you can make it through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the Final Boss on Floor 100 and you clear the game.**"

Most of the crowd were still in disbelief.

"This can't be!" said Skyknight. "The beta testers never made it that high. How does he expect us to get up there without dying?! This is just insane!"

"**Last but not least, I've place a little gift in the item storage of every player. Please have a look.**"

Everyone took a look in the inventory, and found a mirror added in. They all selected it, which cause a handheld face mirror to appear in their hand. seconds later, everyone was engulfed in a bright light. Dimmed Skyknight looked over to Landdusk to find that he now had longer hair. But he noticed something odd. "What the-? R-Riku! What are you doing in your real world form!"

Landdusk looked back and said, "Me? What about you, Sora?"

Skyknight then look in the mirror he was holding, and found that he was back in his real world form, spiky hair and all. Every player in the game has been reverted to their real life form. "B-but how?"

"The scan," Landdusk answered. "There's a high density signal device inside the Nerve Gear rig. It can see what our faces look like. And the calibration where it ask us to touch ourselves all over is how they got our physical data, our height and body type."

"**I'm sure you're all now wondering: Why? Why would Ansem, the developer of the Nerve Gear and Kingdom Hearts Online, put you all in this position? It's really quite simple. The purpose of KHO was to control the fate of a world of my creation.**"

Skyknight gritted his teeth in anger. "Ansem," he hissed.

"**My goal has been achieved, for the moment. But I'm really looking forward to seeing ****how far you all go! This concludes this tutorial, and the official launch of Kingdom Hearts Online. My subjects! Show me what you can do!**" With that said, the giant robed hologram vanished in another flash of lightning, the sky was clear again, and the barriers blocking the exits disappeared.

The reactions of the players were all a mix of outrage and panic.

Landdusk had grabbed Skyknight's arm and dragged him out of the crowd.

* * *

The two friends are now in an alleyway.

"Is this seriously happening, Riku?" asked Sora in shock.

"All I know is that this isn't a game anymore, Sora," answered Riku doing his best to keep a level head with little success. "Ansem is a genius. I've been a fan of his for a while now. He designed this world and the Nerve Gear, after all. So I know for a fact that everything he said was the truth. And that means, if we die in this world, we'll die in the real world!"

Sora was shaking for a moment, but he managed to compose himself and asked, "What do we do now?"

"What else can we do? We have to make ourselves as strong as possible in order to survive this!" Riku pulls up a map of the first floor from his menu. "In an MMORPG, once it starts there's only so much Munny and XP to go around that we can earn. The fields around Traverse Town are gonna be hunted clean soon. If we head to the next town now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. I know all the paths and places we should avoid, so you don't have to worry."

"What about my brother, Ven?"

"He's an ex beta tester like me, right?" asked Riku. "And you said he's with his friends, Terra and Aqua, right?" Sora nodded in response. "Then, you don't have to worry about him. He'll won't go down that easily."

Sora was still concerned. "Shouldn't we, like, team up with them? You know, strength in numbers?"

"Not always the case," answered Riku. "In this game, Solo players earn full amount Munny and XP after slaying a Heartless. But with party kills, the earnings are divided evenly among a it's members, regardless of who dealt the killing blow. The more members in a single party, the less XP each member will earn, and the longer it takes for everyone to get stronger. I'm sure Ventus knows that and has his own plan in mind."

Sora was hesitant to leave his brother behind. He suddenly gets another message from Roxas, it read, **_My friends and I are gonna sweep what we can from the fields, what are you gonna_ _do?_**

Sora thought for a second. Then answered him with, _**I'm gonna head to the next town with my friend, Landdusk. Think you'll be alright without**** me?**_

After a minute, another message said, _**Hey! **__**Don't worry about me. I know this floor like the back of my hand. It's you I'm worried about. Tell Landdusk that I'm trusting him to keep my little brother alive. Good luck, you're gonna need it.**_

Sora chuckled as Riku read the message over his shoulder. He then relied with. _**Alright. And don't worry about my luck. I have a Keyblade, don't I? We'll all get out of this alive, I promise!**_**_  
_**

Roxas-Ventus replied, **_Yeah, okay. We'll keep in touch! If you're ever in a jam, let me know._**

Sora sent one last message, _**Ditto to you**** too, bro. **_Feeling a bit better, he turned to Riku and said, "Alright. Let's go."

Riku nodded and they ran out of town. Skyknight-Sora and Landdusk-Riku ripped through the Heartless in there way, determined to survive!

* * *

**A/N: And cut!**

**Finally got this chapter out of my system!**

**You may have expected Sora to pick the Warrior, but I thought the 'kindness to aid friends' in Guardian fit Sora better(whenever I replayed the first game, I always picked the shield). I thought Riku was best suited for the Warrior class. And they're gonna be joined by a Mystic in the next chapter(you've probably already guessed who it is), making for a perfectly balanced party.**

**As I said, I don't know how often this story will be updated as I have other stories in the works. But I'll see what I can do.**

**Please review, some advice might help. Hope you like this.**


	2. First Boss

**A/N: Okay another chapter based on an episode before I start throwing the characters in situations of my own design.**

**First off, Review Responses:**

**Luminous Calamity: Now don't you worry. After this chapter, the story is going to flow a lot differently than in SAO.**

******T3rran: Thanks for pointing out my errors. I fixed as many as I could find.**

**With that said, GAME CONTINUE!**

* * *

**First Boss**

* * *

It's been a month since the game started. And so far, no one has been able to clear the Floor 1, and over a thousand players have died. Skyknight and Landdusk had been able to reach Level 18, and have changed some of their gear. They both have swapped their Leather Vests for Iron Vests.

Landdusk swapped his Dream Sword for a Soul Eater, a sword with a blade that resembles a purple demonic wing with a blue cat-like eye at the bottom of the blade. The Soul Eater had a special ability attached to it called Soul Strike, a dark type attack that doubles attack power but at the cost of twenty percent of HP. Land found it in the dungeon.

Skyknight bought a new shield called a Smasher, a small blue shield with a green fleur-de-lis on the face. It may be small but it too has a special ability, Shield Bash, which can be used for attack, or if used just right, deflect heavier attacks. He has not been able to find any new Keychains on this floor, however. Technically, a player can only have one Keyblade, as it's more of an ability rather than a storable item(Keyblade Wielders are marked by a gold keyhole sigil on their palms). But it's appearance and parameters can be modified by swapping Keychains, which Sky only has the Kingdom Key.

The duo has explored the floor's dungeon a bit and Landdusk found that it had changed from the beta test, which explains why no one had found the boss yet. But now, finally, a meeting was being held in a stone outdoor auditorium to discuss how they're going to find and beat the boss. At least thirty players showed up. Skyknight and Landdusk sat on a high seat, isolated from the others.

In the center of the stage was a player with spiky black hair and blue eyes. He wore an Iron Vest with pauldrons over a blue sleeveless shirt, a pair of Leather Gauntlets, black pants and iron boots. On his back was a Knight's Longsword. He clapped his hands twice to grab everyone's attention, and said with a confident smile on his face, "Alright! Let's get this meeting underway, shall we? First off, I'd like to thank you all for coming today. It's good to see you. My name is Zackhero, Warrior Class player. We've got a big one coming so listen up." Zackhero's face then turned serious. "Now then, our party has found the boss room, today." This got everyone's attention. "First we must beat the boss and make it to Floor 2. Then, we must tell everyone waiting in Traverse Town that it IS possible to beat this game!" He smiles again. "It is our duty as the most capable players here, don't you think?"

There was a bit of chattering among the other players before they started clapping for their speaker.

"Alright!" Zackhero continued, "Glad to see you see you all with me on this. Now, let's talk about how we're gonna beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six. A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss. We need a raid group, consisting of multiple parties."

As he said this, players were already teaming up. Meanwhile Skyknight and Landdusk stayed put, observing the forming parties. "Boy, these guys move fast," said Sky.

"I guess Zackhero motivated them enough," replied Land. "We won't even get a chance to join one. Not that I think we need anyone else anyways."

Skyknight look around to their left and soon spotted a lone player, sitting on the same level as them, isolated from the others. The face was shrouded in the hood of a bright blue cape, but from the rest of the outfit, he guessed it was a girl. She wore a pink dress with a small leather vest, black skintight shorts, white shin-length socks and lilac boots. In her hand she held a Morning Star, a blue rod with a yellow star on top of it, that heightens magical power while also fairly good with physical attacks incase she gets low on MP. Skyknight could vaguely see a gloomy expression on her face.

"Hey, check it out," Sky said to Land. "Solo player at nine o'clock."

Landdusk looked at the lone player. "If she thinks she'll be of any help solo, she's got another thing coming."

Skyknight looked concern. "She looks kinda lonely over there. You think we should ask her to join our party?"

"I don't know. She might just slow us down."

"Aw don't be like that, Land." Skyknight said in disapproval. "Why are you always thinking other players will just get in our way? I'm not an ex beta tester and yet you let me in your party."

"That's because you're my best friend, Sky, and I want you to survive this too." Landdusk said firmly. "But we don't know anything about that girl. We don't know how good she is at this game."

"So what?" said Sky. "You never know unless you give her a chance. Besides, judging from her rod, she probably chose the power of the Mystic." He points at himself, "Guardian,"points at Land, "Warrior," points at the girl, "Mystic! This'll be the perfect three player party. Three makes for better odds than two, and it won't slow down our leveling up that much. Three's a lucky number. You never know until you try." Without giving Landdusk a chance to answer, he then scooted over to towards the girl.

Landdusk sighed, "Same old Sora, even in the virtual world you're too nice."

Skyknight now sat just inches from the solo player. "You look left out over here."

The girl looked at the boy for a second the back at the crowd. "Everyone seems like their already friends," she said in a gentle voice.

"Have you ever been in a party before?" asked Skyknight.

The girl shook her head. "It's not like I even know anyone here."

"Sorry to hear that," replied Sky. "You could join our party if you want."

The girl was visibly taken aback by the question. "Y-you want m-me to join your party?"

"Of course. Landdusk and I could use a third player in our party. And a magic specialist too. Besides, you heard what Zackhero said, we can't beat the boss solo."

The girl was hesitant. "A-are you sure?"

"What? You afraid we're gonna hold you back? Relax, we know what we're doing. Or are you afraid _you're_ gonna hold _us_ back." The girl didn't know what to say, but then Skyknight gave her a wide grin. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do great. We'll make it through this no problem."

The girl stared at him for a moment, then nodded. Sky sent her a party invite, which she accepted. Then, at the top left corner of his vision, a new name and set of gauges appeared below his and Land's. "So your name is Seaprincess huh? Nice name."

The girl called Seaprincess was once again taken aback. "H-how did you know that?"

"Now that you're in our party, if you look at your set of bars on the upper left corner of your vision, you should see both mine and Landdusk's name below yours."

Seaprincess looked and saw her new teamates' names. "Skyknight?" she read aloud the name she didn't hear.

"Yep," Skyknight anwered. "Nice to meet you, Seaprincess."

Land had approached the two after he noticed something odd. "If you don't mind me asking, Seaprincess, do you know why your Heart Meter is different from ours?"

Sky was confused until he looked again and saw what he was talking about. Normally, a Heart Gauge was part sky blue and part dark purple to indicate the amount of light and darkness respectively. Skyknight had 95% of blue and only 5% purple, while Landdusk was 49% blue and 51% purple. Seaprincess however was 100% bright gold. That was something neither of them had seen before.

The girl answered. "I don't know. There was nothing about a Heart Meter being gold in the Guide Book."

_Then that wasn't in the Beta Test,_ thought Landdusk.

"I wonder what it means," asked Skyknight.

But before they could dwell on it, Zackhero got everyone's attention again. "Okay! Is everyone set? Now then moving on..."

"Hold on a second!" called a voice, interrupting the meeting. Everyone looked up and saw a player with brownish blond hair that stinks up on the sides and sky blue eyes. His wore a yellow shirt with a red vest, black pants and yellow boots. He carried a Dream Sword on his back. This player looked very angry. The player leapt down to Zackhero's level and said, "The name's Blitzace! Got that?! I'd like to address something that needs to be addressed. We all know about the thousand players who died so far, right?! Well, why did they have to die? Oh that right! Because of those damn beta testers! After the game started the beta testers just up and vanished! They stole all the good hunting spots and all the easy quests, and left all us beginners to rot! They never once helped us, and because of that, more than a thousand people died!"

Landdusk grunted in half anger and half shame. Skyknight was just angry at Blitzace for basically insulting his best friend. _How dare he blame beta testers for the deaths,_ he thought.

Blitzace then looked over to the other players and shouted, "I bet there are a few beta testers here right now! We should make them apologize! We should make them fork over all their munny and items! Why should we trust them when they don't trust us!"

Skyknight had just about had enough and was going to say something. But he was beat to the punch when player stood up and walked up to Blitzace.

This player was tall, had bright blond spiky hair and bright blue eyes. He wore an Iron Vest with pauldrons over purple sleeveless shirt, a black wristband on his right wrist and an Iron gauntlet on his left, black pants and iron boots. He had a Knight's Longsword on his back. "The names Darkcloud," he said in a calm and collected voice. "Blitzace right? Let me see see if I got this right? You think the ex beta testers should be blamed for the other players deaths because they didn't help them, and that they should give up their winnings in apology. I leave anything out?"

"No, you didn't," Blitzace answered grumpily.

"Did you know that more than half of those deaths were suicide? Invoked by psychological trauma caused by the Game Master's announcement?" That info startled most of the other players, including Blitzace. Darkcloud then pulls out a small hand book from his pocket. "The Item Stores hand these Guide Books out for free. You got one, didn't you?" Blitzace nodded. "The ones handing these out happen to be the ex beta testers." That got everyone attention. "That counts as helping, don't you think? Everyone had equal and easy access to this information. And still a lot of players died, most of which not even the beta testers could've prevented. We're not here to play the blame game. We're to learn from those players' deaths. We're here to find out how to beat the boss!" That hit home with everyone.

Blitzace grunted as he went and sat down on the front room.

Zackhero then clapped once. "Alright! Can we get back to business now? Okay!" He pulled out his own Guide Book. "All the information we have about the boss is in here; in the latest issue of the guide book you just heard about." He opens the book and reads. "The boss's name is Guard Armor. It has four detachable limbs that have a long reach and can act on there own. Each limb has its own health bar, and the Armored Torso has two health bars. After losing all four limbs the torso will resort to using a spinning attack that whips up a whirlwind. It will also be surrounded by its Heartless minions, There will a bunch of lowly Soldiers and a few Air Soldiers. We'll have different parties deal with different circumstances, which we'll decide on when he set out." Everyone had listen intently and agreed with his plan. "That's it for the briefing, we'll have a feast tonight and set out first thing tomorrow morning. Meeting adjourned!"

* * *

Later that night, Seaprincess sat by herself on a stair. Eating a loaf of bread with cream on it. Soon, Skyknight joins her, sitting next to her, eating his own bread. It was quiet for a second, until Skyknight breaks the silence. "Can you believe that Blitzace guy? Blaming the ex beta testers for other players deaths? What a load of crap."

Seaprincess looked down. "Why are we all here in the first place?"

Skyknight was puzzled by her question. He wasn't sure what kind of answer she was looking for, but decide to answer anyway. "We all dived into this game because we wanted to have fun. We wanted to experience a world where we can do whatever we want; almost literally live in our own fantasy worlds. Who knew this game would turn out to be a death trap?"

"But why set this up so that we could die for real, and can't logout?"

"I wish I knew." Sky clenched his fist. "But I swear, if I ever see Ansem, I'm gonna pummel him for doing this to us. Over a thousand people are dead because of him."

"This whole game just seems pointless to me." Seaprincess looked at the night sky, at the heart-shaped moon that is said to be the game's namesake, Kingdom Hearts. "And yet here we all are, being forced to play it."

Skyknight looked at Seaprincess with concern. "You seem like the kind of girl who doesn't like to fight. I surprised you're fighting at all. Why are you, Sea?"

Sea held her hands together tightly. "Because I don't want to be scared anymore. I've seen some those suicides Darkcloud mentioned with my own eyes. Those people probably had so much ahead of them in their lives, and they just gave it all up, just like that. That's...That's just not right. After seeing all that, I can't just sit back and do nothing. If I die in this game,...I'd rather die fighting."

Skyknight was even more concerned now, but he understood her reasoning. He looked up at the heart-shaped moon and said, "I wouldn't want a friend dying on me. So please try stay alive, okay?"

For the third time in one day, Seaprincess was taken aback by the same boy. "Fr-friend? Wh-when did we become friends?"

"Easy!" Skyknight said with a big grin on his face. "While I can't speak for Land, since he was reluctant to let you join our party, the moment you did, you became _my_ friend! So please try not to die on me, Sea." He then sent her a Friend Request.

Seaprincess was astounded by Skyknight's kindness. She never thought anyone would ask her be their friend. Yet this boy was willing to make friends with someone he had only just met. She was reluctant at first, but she accepted the request. She then looked down and said, "Okay. I'll try not to die." She then muttered under her breath, "It wouldn't feel right dying without knowing who I am, anyway."

Skyknight was confused at that last statement that he just barely heard. But before he could question it, Landdusk came up behind them and said, "Okay you two. We should turn in for the night. We've got a big one tomorrow, so we'll need all the rest we can get."

"Okay," Seaprincess replied as she stood up and bow to both of them. "Good night, Skyknight, Landdusk." She then walked over to the inn.

Landdusk turned to his friend, and asked "What do you make of her?"

"She normally doesn't like to fight," Skyknight answered, "but she told me she doesn't want to be afraid of this game."

"I see. I guess we'll find out just how much that determination is worth in this fight."

* * *

The next morning, everyone from the meeting gathered outside of the village. The six parties formed into Squads A through F. Skyknight, Landdusk, and Seaprincess were Squad F, one of the three backup squads in charge of the minions. The raid group then set out to the floor dungeon. On their way there, Squad F discussed their own strategy to deal with the minions: Landdusk and Skyknight perform switch tactics on a single target, while Seaprincess covers them with magic spells. They all traversed through the floor dungeon, which one the outside appeared to be a gargantuan pillar, but on the inside had a dark castle corridor-like appearance. They made it to a large doorway, the entrance to the boss room.

"Okay," said Zackhero. "Is everyone ready?" Everyone signal that they're ready in their own way. "Then let's do this!"

Both Zackhero and Darkcloud open the door and everyone rushed right in. They found themselves in a dark empty grand hallway. It was quiet at first, until the entire hallway suddenly brightened up, signaling the boss battle beginning. A pile of giant purple armor rained down from the ceiling, one large Armored Torso with two Heartless sigils, one in front and an upside down one on the back, two Guantlets, and two Hammerlegs. After bouncing off the ground, the armor quickly assembled into a humanoid formation and once the figure landed and spiked knight's helmet dropped down on top of the torso. The armor then began moving as if it was alive, as the Heartless' name appeared above it, Guard Armor. Two HP bars appeared in front of the torso while a separate bar appeared in front of each of its limbs.

Soon, nine humanoid Heartless appeared in front of the boss. Six of them had purple bodies, red claws and silver knight helmets opened to revealed a black face with glowing yellow eyes; the Soldiers. Three of them had brown bodies, bat-like wings, and whore an old school fighter pilot's hat with a small propeller on top and goggles in front of its eyes; the Air Soldiers.

"This is it, everyone!" Zackhero shouted. "Charge!" On that command, the raid group charged at the Heartless.

Squads A through C focused on the boss directed by Zackhero, while Squads D through F focused on keeping the minion Heartless at bay. The Guard Armor had several different attack patterns: throwing its Gauntlets to punch it's opponents, spinning it's Gauntlets around itself, and stomping on it opponents with is Hammerlegs, and separate it limb to attack independently. The Soldiers merely attacks using scratches and various kicks, while the Air Soldiers had aerial advantage using various punches and kicks.

The battle was going smoothly for the most part.

On the minion part, the had managed to slay tree of the Soldiers and one Air Soldier. One of the surviving Air Soldier flew towards Skyknight.

Sky readied his Smasher shield as it glow red, signaling him powering up an attack. "Shield Bash!" he shouted as he thrusted the shield at the oncoming dive kick, deflecting it and knock the Heartless off balance. "Switch!"

Landdusk wasted no time dashing at the same Air Soldier, his Soul Eater sword glowing purple as he shouted, "Soul Strike!" He slash right through the Air Soldier, leaving a red mark on its chest. Its HP went to zero and the Heartless exploded into black smoke, leave a glowing heart to rise up an until it disappeared. Soul Strike's effect caused Land to lose 20% of his HP.

A Soldier was about to perform a lunging kick from behind Skyknight, but...

"Blizzard!" shouted Seaprincess as the star on the end of her Morning Star rod, then a cold particle shot out. The particle managed to catch the Heartless mid lunge, freezing it.

The spell caught Skyknight's attention to the Soldier and he then drew his Keyblade and it glows red as he slew the Heartless. He turned to his teamate and said, "Nice save, Sea!"

Meanwhile, the Guard Armor has had one of its two health bar emptied and the second down by 15%. One thing the most of the players didn't notice was the each of the limbs were only down to 30% health and they suddenly became transparent and immobile.

One of the few who did notice this was Landdusk. _Somethings not right,_ he thought, but he could dwell on it because of the minions.

Once all the limbs were disabled, the Armored Torso then began spin around and around until it was surrounded by a tornado. Spell casters could get their spells through the twister, nor could the warriors' weapons. The boss twister began to move around, while the player began backing away.

Zackhero turned to the backup squads and shouted, "We need a Shield Bash over here!"

Skyknight just slew another Soldier as he heard the command. "I'm on it!" he shouted back. He then charged to the boss with his Smasher ready. The boss move towards its attacker, and the two were on a collision course. Sky activated his Shield Bash move and clashed with the twister. The force from both moves canceled the twister and stunned the Guard Armor, while Sky was knocked several feet back onto the ground.

"Now, take it down while it's stunned," shouted Zackhero as the player did just that, while Land and Sea went to help Sky up, as the last of the minions were defeated. They were able to get its last HP bar down to 50% when it, like its limbs, suddenly turned transparent.

The transparent armor pieces then gather up and the player were now on edge, wondering out loud what's going on. Then, Gauntlets placed their palms on the ground. The head detached from the top as the torso flipped upside down, the back facing the player and the upside down Heartless sigil now right side up. The Hammerlegs float to the sides of the torso as the head place itself at the new top. The feet of the Hammerlegs then conversed into pincers, and the helmet's face plate lowered to reveal a black face with soul-piercing yellow eyes. Finally, as the boss hover above the ground and returned to its tangible state, its name 'Guard Armor' reappeared, only to suddenly change to 'Opposite Armor'.

"What the hell?!" shouted Landdusk. "This wasn't in the Beta Test!"

This statement caught Blitzace's attention, but before he could say anything, the boss floated up to the players drew back all four limbs and threw them at its opponents, knocking several of them back and putting their HP into the red zone.

Some players were too scared to move, including Squad F. But Zackhero wouldn't let the boss intimidate him. And charged at it.

Landdusk thought that was a bad idea and shouted, "No stop! It's no good!"

But Zackhero ignored and charged his sword for an attack. However, the Opposite Armor performed a backflip kick attack knocking him on the ground. Then the boss rearranged it part into what looked like makeshift cannon. And as expected, the end of the 'nozzle' started charging energy into a large purple sphere. Everyone stared in fright as the sphere launched right onto their leader.

Zackhero HP went to zero, shocking everyone, Darkcloud especially, who then shouted, "ZAAACCK!" as the player faded into bit of data.

Skyknight was shocked. This was the first time he ever witnessed a player dying. But now wasn't the time for mourning, as there was still a boss fight to finished. Sky eyes were now filled with determination. "Land." he said catching his best friend's attention. "Let's take this boss down, once and for all."

Landdusk look into Skyknight's he saw amazed him. Sky wasn't afraid, he was determined. This was a look he knew all too well. It meant he was dead set on this task, and nothing was gonna stop. Land was unsure if they could win, but he could tell there was no arguing with him, and there was no way he's letting him go alone. He sighed and said, "Alright, but be careful."

"Naturally."

"I'm in too." Seaprincess said from behind them.

Landdusk looked at the girl. He couldn't quite read her hooded expression, but he took note of what Skyknight said before about her not wanting to be afraid. This was her chance to prove her worth. "Okay." The trio then charged toward Opposite Armor. "We'll hit 'em like we did the minions."

"Right," the party said in unison.

The Opposite Armor noticed the three players approaching. Its Head and Hammerleg Pincers separated from others and backed away. The Torso started to charge toward the its attackers with the Gauntlets twirling around each other in front, looking like a two-bladed motor fan.

Skyknight took point using Shield Bash to collide with the makeshift fan, stopping the attack in its tracks while knocking Sky to the ground. Landdusk wasted no time in switching and using Soul Strike on the left Gauntlet, damaging it majorly. Seaprincess quickly followed up with a fire spell to the same Gauntlet, destroying it. Noticing Land's HP low from the effects of Soul Strike, she quickly casted a Cure spell on him restoring it.

But little did they realize that while they were distracted by the Torso, the separated parts had and attack of their own, the Hammerleg Pincers positioned themselves to the sides of the Head, whose spike at its top glowed as it began vertically revolving around the space between the Pincers. This formation then charged at the attackers aiming a Seaprincess while she was casting Cure.

Luckily, Skyknight caught sight of the attack and shout, "Sea! Watch out!"

This got Seaprincess to notice the oncoming attack and she quickly sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the attack. However, her effort to dodge, caused her stumble and fall on her butt while her hood fell down. She had, however, manage to retaliate by casting a Thunder spell, striking lightning on the right Pincer.

With Sea's hood down, Sky finally got a good look at her. He could see her determined yet beautiful violet eyes and gorgeous shoulder-length crimson-red hair. He stared in awe for a moment, until heard Land shout, "Sky, look alive!" snapping him out of his stupor, as he got up.

The Head's formation attacked again. This time SkyKnight deflected it with his Smasher shield and Sea casted Blizzard, freezing the right Pincer. Sky then finished it off with his Keyblade. The Head and left Hammerleg Pincer, then regrouped with the Torso and right Gauntlet. The Land had been damaging the Torso a little, but was soon knock back into the ground by the Pincer. Seaprincess dashed towards the Boss and attempted to cast another spell, but realized too late that her MP was too low. She was then punched by the Gauntlet, shoving her into Sky, knocking them both on the ground.

Sky and Sea struggled to get up, as the Opposite Armor then towered over them, ready to attack with it's Pincer. Sky raised his shield as the attack came at them, only for the attack to be deflected by Darkcloud. All the other player then charged at the boss as Darkcloud turned to the injured players and said, "We can hold this bastard off until you've recovered!" before charging himself.

Skyknight had then got out a two Potions from his Item Pack, consuming one himself and using the other on Sea to restore their HP. Seaprincess then grabbed an Ether to restore her MP. Landdusk also got up and took the opportunity to consume a Potion.

And while Squad F was recovering, the rest of the players managed to do more than just hold the boss off. They manage to damage it somewhat, and even destroy its other Hamerleg Pincer, leaving it with just the Head and Torso, and a Gauntlet. The boss then rose up, returned to Cannon Mode, and began charging another blast.

Skyknight got up and dashed into the fray. "Watch out!" Just as the boss launched another blast, Sky activated Shield Bash again. "No you don't!" The Shield Bash clashed with the blast. Sky struggled for a brief second, before pushed the blast right back at the Armor. It successfully stunned the Torso and Head, causing it to fall on the ground and forced the Gauntlet to separate.

Seaprincess then casted Fire on the Gauntlet and Landdusk finished it off with his Soul Eater sword, leave only the main target, the Head and Torso, still in Cannon Mode.

Sky then started dashing at the boss, followed by his Squad. "Land! Sea! Let's finish him off once and for all!" he shouted.

"Right!" he team acknowledged.

The Armor cannon, charged energy for another blast as Squad F approached. It blasted them, only for the attack to, once again, be reflected back at it, by Skyknight. Seaprincess then casted Thunder on the Head, followed by Landdusk striking the Torso directly with Soul Strike. The Boss's HP was so low, all that was needed was one attack. Sky wasted no time. He leapt as high as he could with his Keyblade, and came crashing down on the Head and Torso, slicing them down the middle. The wound unleashed a static energy as a heart flew out of it and the Opposite Armor exploded into dust.

There was a moment of silence, until all the players in the room started cheering in victory as a message above them read, **Congratulations! ****Boss Cleared!**

Sky had knelt down exhaunted when he noticed a message in front of him that read, **You have received the Last Attack Bonus!** Sky was confused. "Last Attack Bonus?"

Landdusk walked up to Skyknight and said, "That's right. Every boss has a rare item that is only given to the player who struck the final blow. You've earned it, Sky."

Skyknight then opened the received item and it read, **Brave Warrior**, and it said it was an equipment item. Curious, he decided to equip it and found himself now wearing a gold breastplate with a single left pauldron and a red scarf.

"Looks good on you," Land complemented.

Seaprincess nodded in agreement, actually smiling for once. "It suits you."

Sky blushed for a second, "Th-thanks," he replied.

Then everyone's celebration was suddenly buzz killed. "Stop cheering!" Blitzace shouted, gaining everyone's attention. The rookie player looked distraught. "Why?" he said in low voice. Then he glared at Landdusk and shouted, "Why did you let Zackhero die?!" Landdusk flinched at this. "I heard that statement you said. How could you know that that transformation wasn't in the Beta Test. It's obvious, isn't it? Because you're a Beta Tester! You're a Beta Tester, and yet you just sat a watched that thing kill our leader! You could've helped him, but you didn't!"

Land grunted, "Well, what was I supposed to do? Like I said, that wasn't in the Beta Test! No one could've known how to defeat that thing! Zackhero was the one who charged in alone without so much as asking for backup!"

"Hah! I knew you Beta Testers were selfish! Leaving us to die to save your own skins! We can't trust you at all!" Blitzace was then met with a punch in the face.

The thrower of said punch was none other than Skyknight. "That's not fair! You can't judge my friend just because he's a Beta Tester! I know Landdusk a lot better than you do! He would never willingly abandon another player! We were all caught off guard by that transformation! You can't blame any of us for being scared!"

Blitzace growled at Skyknight, but before he could retort, a voice said, "Do you know who else was a Beta Tester here?" Everyone looked at the source and saw Darkcloud on his knees looking down. "The other ex Beta Tester on this team..." He looked up all teary eyed and shouted, "happened to be the same player who died today!" This startled everyone. "That's right! Zackhero was an ex Beta Tester too! Even so, he still died. He was my best friend in real life, so I knew him better than you ever will, Blitzace! He saw how scared everyone was at Guard Armor transforming into Opposite Armor. He knew that if we all sit around doing nothing, scared out of our minds, we all would die. That's why he charged in without back up. He wanted to protect all of us. He risked his own life hoping to make us see that we had to have courage in order to prevail! A Beta Tester risked his own life for us!"

Everyone listened to Darkcloud intently. They couldn't believe what they just heard. Darkcloud took a deep breath and continued, "In that sense, Zack died because of ALL of our cowardice! In that sense, we are ALL to blame for his death!" He then stood up approached Blitzace. "Zack is proof that everything you've said about ex Beta Testers is wrong."

Blitzace grunted, he couldn't think of a counter argument.

"I can't believe you," a voice said, surprisingly Seaprincess' voice. She then shouted, "I can't believe you would judge someone before getting to know them!" This surprised even her fellow party members. When she had her hood up, they had the impression she was the shy type. Not the case here. "I may have only just met Land, but even I can tell he and Sky are not as selfish as you claim. I mean, they let me into their party without me even asking. Are you really so afraid of this game that you would discriminate and point fingers just to feel better about yourself. You're the selfish one here!"

"You little-!" Blitzace started to say but was cut off.

"You want to blame someone?" asked Skyknight. "Then blame the bastard who trapped us in this game in the first place!"

"Don't be such a childish brat, pointing fingers," added Landdusk. "Instead, you should do us all a favor, and either man up and get stronger, or stay out the fight like the rest of those cowards!" This made Blitzace flinch. "But keep this in mind: This boss has proven that this game is a lot harder than we thought. And there is only so much we can do on our own." He then turned away. "I suggest you get with the program and decide where _you_ stand here, and not where others stand." With that Landdusk walked towards the door leading to the Floor 2, with Skyknight and Seaprincess behind him, leaving the rest of the players to ponder.

On the way, Skyknight decided to ease the tension. "So, Land, how did you think Sea did? Pretty good, don't you think?"

Landdusk answered, "She handled herself better than I expected, and was a great help to us. I'll admit, I was iffy on letting her stay, but she has proven her worth. She can stay if she wants to."

Skyknight smiled and turned to the girl. "You hear that? You're officially one of us now."

Seapricess was in awe at their acceptance of her. She then smiled and said, "Thank you. I'll do my best to help the team."

"By the way," added Skyknight, "you should definitely leave your hood down, you look prettier without it."

The girl blushed at that statement. On impulse, she pulled her hood back up to hide her reddened face. Skyknight blinked in confusion, while Landdusk couldn't help but snicker.

* * *

**A/N: Over 6000 words?! That's the most I've ever written in a single chapter in any of my stories. I am honestly surprised at how long this Chapter turned out. I guess I had a lot of inspiration from the episode this is based on. But as you can see I changed how the whole Beta Tester discrimination was handled, since I didn't particularly like how Kirito handled it. **

**IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT EXPECT THE NEXT CHAPTER TO BE BASED ON SAO'S THIRD EPISODE! FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, I'M GONNA TRY TO BE AS ORIGINAL AS I POSSIBLY CAN!**

**So just to be clear on who's who:**

**Skyknight = Sora**

**Landdusk = Riku**

**Seaprincess = Kairi**

**Zackhero = Zack Fair**

**Darkcloud = Cloud Strife**

**Blitzace = Tidus**


End file.
